Are we gonna acknowledge our Goalie issues?

[Pimlach]

11 minutes ago, Taro T said:

And the schedule lines up that way nearly every year.  The schedule is quite sparse in October and compresses significantly after Christmas.  (Apparently after Halloween this season.)  The league doesn't want to compete against the NFL (but can't really do much about that for 4 months) nor the WS (which they can and do alter their schedule around).  So, maybe @Brawndo's plan to keep Reimer up for the 1st couple of months and then flipping him and Levi makes sense; but again IMHO this team has too little room for error to have the 2nd best guy down in Ra-cha-cha while the 3rd best guy is dropping 2 points every 4th start.  AND in both of the past 2 seasons, after Levi got called up for real, UPL's play tailed off noticably.  (Was it because UPLs play tailed off that he got brought up, or (more likely in this kid's opinion) did his play tail off because he now had legit competition for the starter's job?)  If it was because Levi got called up and now UPL was no longer 100% the starter in his own mind; well, guess what very possibly happens again when Levi gets called up in December.  And Levi will be getting at least 1/2 the starts in that situation anyhow.

When all is said and done, Levi's likely going to get ~32-35 games which is a bit over 3 of every 8.

And, while this is a slightly tangential discussion, if UPL can't be his best self without playing at least 3 of every 4, he is NOT the goalie for THIS team.  They are too young to be playing in front of a sieve every 4th game just to keep the starter in a good space mentally.  (3 years from now, when they're actually a team with a standard age distribution, sure.  But not now.)  MHO, ymmv.

Some good Points Taro, darn good for a guy drafted 187th overall back in 1974.  

I guess I lean towards @Brawndo's plan then.   Reimer holds the fort in limited games while UPL gets going.   Ruff said that UPL was going to be a big part of this team and Adams showed him the money,  therefore they have to give him the bulk of the work in the early part of the season.   That is the time to get Levi sharp in Rochester, down the road you bring up a ready and hungry Levi to bolster the team when the schedule gets more demanding.   Of course the trick is Reimer has to contribute when he gets his games - that was the risk.  I certainly didn't see enough preseason or practices to tell how far apart Reimer and Levi were.   

It is all a moot point.  We are where we are.  At least we have two good candidates in goal.  There are several teams that would love to have our goalies. 

Goaltending will not be our biggest problem this season but right now we need one of them to start carrying the team more, hence the creation of this thread.  

 

[Porous Five Hole]

3 hours ago, Pimlach said:

 

It has always looked to me that Adams wants Levi to be his #1 - as if he has to show something for his decision not to extend Reinhart, and then eventually trade him.  

If this is true, then why did KA give UPL a five year extension?

[PerreaultForever]

7 hours ago, LGR4GM said:

Buffalo currently sits in 30th for Goals Saved Above Expected, GSAx. To be honest, UPL, outside of maybe 2 games has been very leaky. I thought in the Florida game and in the Penguins game, he really let us down. Levi hasn't been much better although we haven't seen him much so hard to tell there. 

The Bruins finally collapsed as their goaltending couldn't keep them afloat (at least for now). We already missed the playoffs 2 years ago because of goalie issues. I personally don't think the defense has been terrible but it seems that every 2v1 or shot from the slot goes in these days. 

Our goaltending has been average but has not cost us any games. 

Your Boston comment is uninformed. Their goaltending is not their problem. Korpisalo was actually their best player against Philly and made numerous big saves or it would have been a blow out. It's not the goalies fault on either team. 

[Pimlach]

2 hours ago, Porous Five Hole said:

If this is true, then why did KA give UPL a five year extension?

Because he does this all the time - see Samuelsson, Cozens, and Power.  

[Idemo Buffalo]

15 minutes ago, Pimlach said:

Because he does this all the time - see Samuelsson, Cozens, and Power.  

It is a little different with goalies.  UPL wasn't drafted by Adams but Adams clearly sees him as #1. Levi is a solid goalie, but hard to believe he sees a 22 year old as the #1 goalie.  Maybe in 2028/29 when UPL contract is up.

[SwampD]

18 hours ago, Idemo Buffalo said:

 We have 14 games in November. Let's talk after November before making a judgement on our goalies. 

Thank God. The schedule so far has sucked.

[Brawndo]

Just gonna put this here 

 

 

[Demoted]

3 hours ago, Brawndo said:

Just gonna put this here 

 

 

What happened to Levi?

[Taro T]

4 hours ago, Brawndo said:

Just gonna put this here 

 

 

A big blank?  What had you posted?

[#freejame]

27 minutes ago, Taro T said:

A big blank?  What had you posted?

Something about Levi only getting x starts in y amount of days 

[Brawndo]

 

[Demoted]

2 hours ago, Brawndo said:

 

I think we need a new Goalie...

 

 

[bob_sauve28]

The Islanders obviously have better goaltending than us 

 

That's the difference 

[Archie Lee]

There was zero reason to stop the rotation. Levi played two good games and one real stinker. UPL had been less up and down, but was hardly “the hot hand”.
 

The Sabres just continually author their own misfortune. Just keep Reimer and send Levi to Rochester like every other normal NHL franchise would have done. Then when injury or poor performance required a recall, you bring up the confident kid who is playing well in the NHL. But we just can’t get out of our own way. 

Edited November 2 by Archie Lee

[Pimlach]

33 minutes ago, Archie Lee said:

There was zero reason to stop the rotation. Levi played two good games and one real stinker. UPL had been less up and down, but was hardly “the hot hand”.
 

The Sabres just continually author their own misfortune. Just keep Reimer and send Levi to Rochester like every other normal NHL franchise would have done. Then when injury or poor performance required a recall, you bring up the confident kid who is playing well in the NHL. But we just can’t get out of our own way. 

The early season schedule was perfect to lean on UPL and let Levi get his work in Rochester.  Instead we did what we did. 
 

A poor GM for sure, but I expect Ruff would know this.  

[Taro T]

That game wasn't on Levi.

[Idemo Buffalo]

1 hour ago, Pimlach said:

The early season schedule was perfect to lean on UPL and let Levi get his work in Rochester.  Instead we did what we did. 
 

A poor GM for sure, but I expect Ruff would know this.  

Know what? We have two goalies and we are playing a back to back. Levi wasn't the problem. 

BTW, Levi has been our goalie in 4 of our 11 games. That is plenty of work. He has played ok too. Not great, but ok.

Edited November 2 by Idemo Buffalo

[Pimlach]

58 minutes ago, Idemo Buffalo said:

Know what? We have two goalies and we are playing a back to back. Levi wasn't the problem. 

BTW, Levi has been our goalie in 4 of our 11 games. That is plenty of work. He has played ok too. Not great, but ok.

Not blaming Levi.  The discussion was his workload and how to develop him best, and how to manage the two goalies.  

Tonight we need excellent goaltending because we are 3 games under .500 and need to get on track.  This team will need strong  goaltending to be competitive over 82 games.  

[bunomatic]

Its hard to imagine this league as a developement league when you’re desperately trying to crawl out of the 13 year funk the Sabres are. They need wins like they need oxygen. With a competent GM we would do less developement and more winning. You all are likely tired of hearing it but the youngest team in the league isn’t a badge of honor but a sign of incompetance.

[DarthEbriate]

Two excellent games from Luukkonen and suddenly the Sabres are at a team sv % of .896. This isn't great, but it's tied for 13th with NYI in the league.

Luukkonen should get the next start because there are no back-to-backs upcoming. And, if Levi can get a 3rd quality start in his next game (and they win this time), all the better.

[Idemo Buffalo]

43 minutes ago, DarthEbriate said:

Two excellent games from Luukkonen and suddenly the Sabres are at a team sv % of .896. This isn't great, but it's tied for 13th with NYI in the league.

Luukkonen should get the next start because there are no back-to-backs upcoming. And, if Levi can get a 3rd quality start in his next game (and they win this time), all the better.

Not sure the goalies were ever really an issue. Now that the D seems to have improved dramatically, our goalies will benefit a ton.  Levi knows the game. Ride the hot goalie.  Levi also knows that his 20-25 starts could very well determine if this team makes the playoffs. Good pressure for a 22yr old.

[Idemo Buffalo]

UPL named one of NHL's "Stars of the Week" in their "Three Stars" of the week awards.  Go UPL.

[#freejame]

 

[WhenWillItEnd66]

Not goalie issues,  our wimpy defense that only stick checks or takes stupid penalties

[#freejame]

2 minutes ago, WhenWillItEnd66 said:

Not goalie issues,  our wimpy defense that only stick checks or takes stupid penalties

Our defense has been a problem at times this year, but that doesn’t change the fact Levi needs to be developing in the AHL and we need a serious 1B if we’re going to contend. UPL could have been much better today.